5 Hot Conversations for 2012
Fast and Slow Thinking
While marketers need to understand what drives decision-making behaviour, it isn’t feasible for everyone to become instant experts in complex psychological theory. That’s why we believe the terms ‘System 1’ (used to describe fast, intuitive and automatic processes) and ‘System 2’ (used to describe slower, more deliberate, reflective thinking) will be heard a lot more in 2012. They identify two very different thinking modes which marketers need to understand from the world of behavioural economics, but reference them in a clear and intuitive way.
‘Fast’ (System 1) decision making requires little or no energy on the part of the brain - a good thing if there are a myriad of decisions to be made. The ultimate goal of a marketer is to make their brand quite literally a ‘no brainer’ through long term, consistent, emotionally connecting activities. After all, while Coke is one of the strongest brands of all time, people don’t think too much when they buy one. In order to get to this enviable position, marketers need to know how to address System 1 and /or bring system 2 thinking into play, triggering a re-evaluation of what might otherwise be an automatic response. Recognising the two systems, understanding how they interact and how they separately and together influence consumer choice, should become a hot topic in marketing and market research in 2012.
Total Integration
‘Above’ and ‘below’, ‘off’ and ‘on’ – marketing lines are all becoming blurred as technology advances and the customer decision journey becomes ever more complex. At the same time, customers expect every stage of the journey to be completely integrated, as they consume multiple media types simultaneously, tweet whilst watching TV, and check reviews on their mobile whilst in-store. In the retail environment, bricks and mortar and clicks and mortar are converging as customers shop on-line then pick-up in-store. eBay has a London store, where shoppers scan QR codes for home delivery.
So marketers and the brands they manage will need total integration of their marketing from purpose, objectives and strategy through to the smallest detail of execution. There are some outstanding brands that do this exceptionally well - Apple, Nike, Disney, McDonalds and Google deliver an integrated and consistent experience irrespective of touch-point, but it isn’t easy to do. How to make sure both individual marketers and organisational culture and structures are up to the task will be a hot topic over the next year.
The Power of Data
Marketers need to synthesise ever increasing amounts and sources of data. This can be seen as both a ‘difficult’ and ‘dry’ aspect of marketing. The good news is that there is a growing number of approaches that can help marketers navigate their way through. Also, data is anything but dull. Applying creativity to make data “readable” and developing that killer infographic that tells a meaningful story at a glance is a juicy challenge. Revealing immediately where the energy of a marketing team should focus will become an increasingly valuable and valued skill.
At the recent WARC Datacentric conference, the team from O2/FACE showed a truly inspiring 3D visualisation of their findings from an augmented research project. In an instant the audience could see the patterns of consumer passions (driven by key words) from a month’s worth of Tweets from almost 60,000 people. The team were then able to use this to shape more real time and meaningful segmentation thinking. It was awesome, exciting and insightful. So we expect 2012 to be the year when data becomes hot!
Taking Responsibility
The world is facing a number of sustainability issues (not just ecological, but also economic and social) and while governments are clearly struggling to respond to this, customers are more and more looking to companies to provide the solutions. The only way that companies can do this is to take full responsibility for what they produce and the business models used.
Not only is this the right thing to do, it will become increasingly difficult to do anything else. There is a greater awareness of companies’ global activities, due to digital and social media, than ever before. Customers will not be slow to demand how they want their favourite brands to behave, and current/future employees want to be proud of the companies they work for. As Unilever’s Paul Polman recently said “shareholder return should be properly deserved – the result of responsibility, not of short term gain”.
So a hot topic for 2012 will be how businesses can address sustainability issues, and live up to the responsibility that customers and society are attributing to them.
Be Social
Is the hype around social media a fad or a trend? It’s neither. Human beings have always been, and will always be, social creatures with a natural need to connect, to talk and to share. The rapid advances in technology simply mean that people have at their disposal more means to connect with others.
This represents a huge opportunity for marketers. Today, when companies launch new services or a new campaign, customers immediately talk about it, give feedback, demand new things and have their voices heard. Genuine co-creation is now not only possible, but happening with businesses that have grasped and embraced the possibilities that technology offers.
Companies that aspire to this will need to drive a fundamental mind-set and structural shift throughout the entire organisation. The company needs to be ready to respond to customers’ demands, to adapt, to be totally integrated across all functional teams all the way to customer services. How to make this shift happen will be a burning question for many businesses in 2012.